Skepticism, secular humanism, social issues

Menu

A Message From The Dead – A Skeptic’s Last Words to The World

Phil Plait blogged about Derek today. Derek was a skeptic who I never knew, nor herd of, until today. He died of cancer May 3rd and he left a final message on his blog. Please, go and read it. It embodies everything I believe about living my daily life, which is; never take anything for granted, enjoy every moment, and always tell those you love that you love them, as often as you can.

This life, as far as anyone can tell, is all that we have. The people in our lives are what give it meaning, and it is to the people in our lives that we will leave our legacy. Once we die, we will live on in thier memoires, the stories they will tell about us, the influence that we had upon them.

I lost my father in 1992, my sister in 1997, and my mother in 1999. They all died suddenly and I never got to say goodbye to any of them, but I had no regrets because I always kept in touch, and I always let them know that I loved them. I learned more from these loses about living day-to-day than anything else in my life.

You never know when you, or someone you love, might be taken from this life. Cherish every moment you have with those that you love, and tell them and show them, as often as you can, that you love them and value them. It will be your legacy to them and it will enrich thier lives more than you can imagine.

I will leave you by quoting Phil Plait, who quoted Slau, who quoted Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Post navigation

4 thoughts on “A Message From The Dead – A Skeptic’s Last Words to The World”

I too lost family suddenly, also lost family slowly and painfully. I know exactly what you mean about no regrets. In our family every goodbye is said with “I Love you” even if it embarrasses the youngest.

Aside from the words there are hugs, tousle of hair, goofy nick-names.

There is support and encouragement and putting aside “important things” to be with each other.

When the end of this long strange trip I will know as I draw my last that my family and my friends know I loved them and I will know they loved me.